Greer Continues to Swing With Sucess August 18, 1997
New Diggens (AP)--Greer may not dazzle fans nor hit 40 balls out of park, but he is making his mark in his league--Rusty Greer has continued to excel at the plate, and he now leads the league in hits, with 165. He is in the top ten in batting average, but he is far behind the league leader, Reggie Jefferson, who sits atop with a .412 batting average (Greer is currently batting .344). But is hit totals can be attributed to his day-in-day-out participation, both on and off the field.
Rusty Greer is usually the first one to the dressing room and the first one on the field. And there are only two players to start in every game the Royals have played so far this season--Greer and thirdbaseman Tim Naehring.
"There's no magic to my performance this year," says Greer. "Every day I come to the game and I try to remember my mistakes and what I can do better. I don't believe in overachieving... I believe that people can always improve as long as they have the right attitude and they work hard."
"I was raised by a father who knew no limits to hard work and caring. I put 100% to my team, and 0% to myself. Baseball is about contributing what you can to the team... I see my 160-something hits as an accomplishement to the franchise... I really don't have many personal goals I set to achieve."
Skinner Finally Gets Run Support He Deserves
Santo Skinner got a win he deeply deserved Saturday afternoon, completely perhaps his best outing of the year. Skinner went 7 innings, letting only three New Diggens players get on base. He let up two hits and a walk, walking away with a convincing shutout. The only run scored scored by the opposite was in the 8th inning with Steve Cooke on the mound, when Jay Bell scored on a rare passed ball by Darrin Fletcher.
Skinner probably could have gone the whole game, but he was taken out after the 7th inning, with a meagre pitch count of 89... 59 of those which were strikes. The skipper opted for Chuck Bonner and Steve Cooke to complete the game, two relievers that have been giving solid performances of late. But it was surprising that Jose Mesa wasn't chosen to come to the mound, even though the outing wouldn't have earned him a save.
Skinner's win was only his 4th in 19 games (10 of those were starts), despite having the lowest ERA on the Royals' rotation. "It's been a tough year for me," said Santo Skinner after the game. "All I want to do is finish the year pitching as well as I have so far, and I'll be a happy man. I can't say the losses is the fault of the offense... I think I still have more to learn about the starting role." Santo Skinner was converted to a starter early in June of this season.
